Welcome to the 2015 Razzball Team Previews! You’ll find everything you need to know about each team to get yourself ready for the upcoming fantasy baseball season. And I mean everything folks. We’ve got line-ups, charts, Slurpee’s, lube, a guide for beginner electricians, and even a cactus! Oh, wait, yeah, like half of those things are actually what I have in front of me… But hey, what’s the point of lube and cacti if you can’t share? Truer words have never been written. We also have a very special guest… Michael Axisa from Riveraveblues, to provide his take on what the team has in store this season. So without further ado (and plenty of lube and cacti), let’s check out the 2015 New York Yankees!
2015 New York Yankees Depth Chart & Projections
Starting Lineup
| Order | Pos | Player | AB | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LF | Brett Gardner | 561 | 77 | 12 | 55 | 20 | 0.253 |
| 2 | 3B | Chase Headley | 531 | 61 | 15 | 60 | 7 | 0.258 |
| 3 | CF | Jacoby Ellsbury | 568 | 80 | 16 | 63 | 31 | 0.269 |
| 4 | C | Brian McCann | 445 | 59 | 22 | 66 | 1 | 0.250 |
| 5 | RF | Carlos Beltran | 444 | 60 | 18 | 62 | 3 | 0.259 |
| 6 | 1B | Mark Teixeira | 432 | 58 | 21 | 63 | 2 | 0.223 |
| 7 | DH | Garrett Jones | 382 | 49 | 17 | 54 | 1 | 0.247 |
| 8 | 2B | Stephen Drew | 387 | 44 | 11 | 43 | 3 | 0.221 |
| 9 | SS | Didi Gregorius | 479 | 52 | 9 | 49 | 4 | 0.238 |
Bench
| Pos | Player | AB | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Austin Romine | 120 | 13 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 0.228 |
| 3B | Alex Rodriguez | 241 | 30 | 8 | 30 | 4 | 0.236 |
| IF | Brendan Ryan | 143 | 14 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 0.207 |
| OF | Chris Young | 210 | 27 | 8 | 26 | 5 | 0.228 |
Starting Rotation
| Role | Player | IP | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CC Sabathia | 161 | 10 | 0 | 3.93 | 1.22 | 126 |
| 2 | Masahiro Tanaka | 172 | 11 | 0 | 3.44 | 1.12 | 153 |
| 3 | Michael Pineda | 163 | 10 | 0 | 3.90 | 1.21 | 135 |
| 4 | Chris Capuano | 83 | 5 | 0 | 4.20 | 1.31 | 63 |
| 5 | Nathan Eovaldi | 175 | 10 | 0 | 4.45 | 1.33 | 122 |
Bullpen
| Role | Player | IP | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | Dellin Betances | 65 | 4 | 25 | 2.73 | 1.13 | 83 |
| SU | Andrew Miller | 58 | 4 | 7 | 2.37 | 1.03 | 79 |
| SU | Adam Warren | 71 | 4 | 0 | 3.46 | 1.22 | 64 |
| MID | Justin Wilson | 51 | 3 | 0 | 3.46 | 1.28 | 50 |
| MID | David Carpenter | 51 | 3 | 0 | 3.31 | 1.17 | 50 |
| MID | Chasen Shreve | 19 | 1 | 0 | 3.60 | 1.27 | 18 |
| LR | Esmil Rogers | 55 | 3 | 0 | 3.79 | 1.26 | 45 |
Note: Projections provided by Steamer.
I’m now happy to welcome Michael Axisa, here to answer a few questions on the New York Yankees…
I feel like a lot can go right, or a lot can go wrong, or I guess it could be a mix of both. So I guess anything is possible, but the Yankees rotation clearly has some questions marks. And quite an appetite. But that one is just because of CC Sabathia. What do you expect from the back-end (that’s what she said) in Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi?
Michael Axisa: With Pineda, the only question is health. He’s never not been awesome when on an MLB mound. If he stays healthy — last year’s injury was just a muscle pull, not something to do with his surgically repaired labrum — I’m confident he will be very good. Eovaldi’s record and ERA have been ugly but his walk rate has improved each year and he has a howitzer for an arm. Going from Saltalamacchia (an awful pitch-framer) to McCann (an elite pitch-framer) will be a big help for him. I’m cautiously optimistic. I think he can give them 180+ innings of above-average ball, say a 110 ERA+ or so.
This is not your father’s Yankees offense, mostly because I’m assuming he was never an owner of the Yankees at any point in time, but despite playing off an idiom, will the group as a whole help buoy the value of fringe fantasy targets like Chase Headley, Garrett Jones and Stephen Drew?
Michael Axisa: Jones and Drew are probably going to platoon so they don’t have much fantasy value. Headley’s power should tick up moving into Yankee Stadium but otherwise he’s not much of a fantasy target. His real world value lies in his defense and solid OBP. That doesn’t help your fantasy team much.
It seems I’ve been asking about closers a lot as this series moves forward, mostly because the names are just so… different. What do you think of Dellin Betances as a closer for the entire season?
Michael Axisa: I think he’ll dominate. And I do expect him to take over as closer at some point, maybe not on Opening Day, but at some point relatively soon. Betances is awesome. He throws 100 and no one seems to pick up his breaking ball, nevermind hit it. So many hitters just bail out and watch it drop in for a called strike. He was an elite reliever last year and expected him to remain an elite reliever going forward as long as he stays healthy.
There’s been a lot of variety when it comes to how the industry and fan view Robert Refsnyder. Despite sounding like a Dick Tracy villain, and Stephen Drew and Didi Gregorius (who sounds like a Game of Thrones character) manning the middle infield, what do you expect from him this season?
Michael Axisa: Honestly, not a whole lot. Jumping from AAA to MLB is very hard — Bogaerts, Taveras, and Polanco all struggled with it last year and those guys were super-elite prospects — and I don’t expect him to have an immediate impact. I do think he’ll get a chance though, probably in the second half. Refsnyder is basically a one tool guy with an .850 OPS in AAA. That’s good but it’s not “force the issue” stuff. The Yankees should and will give him a chance at some point, but I think he’s more hype than anything.
Is there any chance that Alex Rodriguez has any value this year? (Or is he just trolling them?)
Michael Axisa: Oh sure, there’s always a chance he’ll have some value. I don’t expect him too but it’s always possible. He played only 44 games in 2013 due to his hip injury, so we’re talking about a guy who has missed almost two full years and has two bad hips. And he’s 39. It’s almost like he’s coming out of a two-year retirement. It’s possible he’ll hit as a DH, but I don’t expect it.
Want more of the Jay? Don’t we all folks? Don’t. We. All. Well, you, in fact, can have more. AMAZING. I know. You can find Jay enjoying his dig’s over at the Football side of Razz.
